The present invention relates to a device for turning panels, particularly wooden panels on panel sawing machines.
Panel sawing machines of known type are used to cut panels that vary both in width and length, usually placed one over the other in normally large stacks whose dimensions depend on the size of the panels made by the panel forming machines.
At the present time, panel sawing machines, in their minimum standard configurations, basically comprise: a horizontal table to support the stacks of panels to be cut; a unit for picking up the panels and feeding them, along an axis X (horizontal), towards the end of the table where there is a pressing device which holds down one end of the panel stack. The pickup unit comprises a beam equipped with a plurality of pickup elements, for example of the gripper type, located side by side in a line that is at right angles to the direction of forward (or backward) feed and designed to act upon the rear edge of the panels to be cut.
In the area where the hold-down device is mounted, there is also a motor-driven carriage which mounts a cutting device. The carriage moves in both directions along an axis Y transversal to the panel feed axis X, so as to allow the stack of panels to be scored on the surface, and then cut right through, in the area where it is being held by the hold-down device.
At the end of the panel sawing machine where the saw is located, the stack of panels (or the single panel) is usually fed to the saw by machine operators or by a panel feed station (for example a suction table which picks up the panels from a magazine and places them on the horizontal table from above). After the feed operation or after a first series of cutting operations, it is often necessary to turn the cut panels through a right angle in order to position them (or the remaining portion of them if they have already been cut) in a different configuration so that they can be fed to the saw carriage in accordance with the programmed pattern.
At the present time, the turning operation is performed by hand by machine operators with the aid of low-friction panel supporting means, for example, a plurality of wheels placed side by side in two or more rows and mounted on rotating beams, or an air cushion created by suitable systems located under the horizontal table.
On account of the weight and size of the panels, turning them is a slow and burdensome operation for the machine operators, despite the presence of the low-friction supporting means. As a result, it reduces the overall productivity of the machine.
The aim of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages described above by providing a panel turning device for panel sawing machines which is simple, flexible and fast, occupies little space and does not alter the basic structure of the panel sawing machine.